September 16, 2013
National News
Retirement Living: Top metro areas for retirees
(USA Today, 9/9/13)
Baby Boomers are rediscovering the city as they prepare to retire. Read More
Mortgage Lenders, Home Buyers Feel Rate Squeeze
(Wall Street Journal, 9/9/13)
A rise in interest rates is slamming homeowners' demand for mortgages, prompting large and midsize banks to
cut jobs and warn investors of declining profitability in the home-loan business. Read More
Wells Fargo expects to make fewer U.S. home loans this quarter
(Reuters, 9/9/13)
Wells Fargo & Co, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, expects to make 30 percent fewer home loans this quarter
due to rising interest rates, its financial chief said on Monday. Read More
Buying a house is harder than it’s been in five years.
(Washington Post, 9/9/13)
That's right: According to the National Association of Realtors, it's almost as hard to afford a house as it was back
when the financial crisis started to hit in 2008. But is that good or bad for the economy? Read More
Jumbo mortgage rush: Why the rich are buying
(CNBC, 9/10/13)
Even as the rest of America pulls back on mortgages, the wealthy are going on a borrowing binge. Read More
2.5 million mortgage borrowers no longer underwater
(CNNMoney, 9/10/13)
Thanks to a sharp increase in home prices last quarter, 2.5 million more mortgage borrowers no longer owe
more on their homes than they are worth, according to CoreLogic. Read More
Survey: Affluent homebuyers will give up space for amenities
(Inman News, 9/10/13)
The vast majority of luxury homebuyers used an agent, are willing to give up square footage for an amenity they
want and wouldn’t live in a home that isn’t tech-friendly, according to a survey commissioned by Better Homes
and Gardens Real Estate. Read More
Nearly 70 Percent of Real Estate Firms Expect Profitibility
(National Mortgage Professional Magazine, 9/10/13)
Most real estate firms are small, independent businesses that specialize in residential brokerage, with 69
percent of all firms expecting profitability to increase over the next year, according to the 2013 National
Association of Realtors (NAR) Profile of Real Estate Firms. Read More
Housing bust's recovery hampered by tight credit
(USA Today, 9/11/13)
Changes in mortgage lending since the housing bust raise the bar to qualify for home ownership. Read More
New-Home Sales Not So August
(Wall Street Journal, 9/11/13)
Home builders across the U.S. are beginning to hit the limits of what buyers will pay for new homes in this
market, as early assessments of August sales activity indicate a marked slowdown in sales due to lofty prices and
rising interest rates. Read More
It’s about to get harder to buy a home
(MarketWatch, 9/12/13)
Consumers shopping for a home might want to pick up the pace: Getting a mortgage will likely become more
challenging and costly next year. Read More
Realtors: housing market getting back to normal
(Consumer Affairs, 9/12/13)
Home prices are up, which is good news for homeowners hoping to regain some of their equity lost when the
housing market plunged five years ago. But much of the upward price movement had to do with supply, not
demand. Read More
Consumer Comfort Steadies After Four-Week Fall: Economy
(Bloomberg, 9/12/13)
Confidence among American consumers stabilized last week after four straight declines even as their views of
the economy deteriorated. Read More
Existing-Home Sales Probably Declined: U.S. Economy Preview
(Bloomberg, 9/14/13)
Purchases (ETSLTOTL) of previously-owned homes probably fell in August as mortgage rates at a two-year high
began to slow the progress in U.S. residential real estate, economists said before a report this week. Read More
Local News
Colorado Springs-area home prices, sales up in August
(Colorado Springs Gazette, 9/9/13)
Rising mortgage rates might have led to a slowdown in local homebuilding last month, but they didn't faze the
Colorado Springs-area re-sale market as home sales and prices increased in August, according to a report by the
Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. Read More
Area real estate activity up through summer
(Glenwood Springs Post Independent, 9/10/13)
August was the second strongest month of the year so far for residential real estate sales in the area from Aspen
to Parachute, with 137 sales recorded for the month and a total of 885 homes sold to date, according to the
latest Market Trends report compiled by Stewart Title Co. Read More
Metro Denver's southeast market exploding, developers say
(Denver Business Journal, 9/10/13)
Office buildings, hotels, retail space and apartments — LOTS of apartments — are going up simultaneously in
metro Denver's southeast market, a group of busy developers told a standing-room-only crowd Tuesday.
Read More
Building up the housing market
(Brighton Standard Blade, 9/10/13)
Like many housing markets across the country, the housing market in Brighton is starting to pick back up.
Read More
July real estate sales show strength in Eagle County
(Vail Daily, 9/11/13)
The Vail Valley real estate market had started to lag before the world’s economy fell apart in 2008, but it was
still the last of the “good years.” Read More
NoCo home sales soar, Greeley has highest increase
(Northern Colorado Business Report, 9/12/13)
The housing recovery continued across Northern Colorado in August, according to the most recent data from
Information Real Estate Services, with the Greeley-Evans area seeing an increase of 29.4 percent in the number
of listings sold year-to-date when compared to last August. Read More
Aspen real estate sales picking up a bit
(Aspen Times, 9/12/13)
Many involved in the local real estate industry viewed sales in the first half of 2013, both commercial and
residential, as modest. Read More
Real estate sales surge in August
(Telluride Daily Planet, 9/12/13)
After a slower than average start to the year, real estate sales picked up in a big way in August. Read More
County sees jump in building permit, sales tax revenue
(Aspen Daily News, 9/13/13)
Increased sales tax revenues and building permit fees, along with a stronger-than-expected property tax base,
should put Pitkin County in a strong financial position through the end of this year, according to a presentation
from finance staff to the county commissioners this week. Read More
Time could be right for revitalization of downtown Colorado Springs
(Colorado Springs Gazette, 9/14/13)
It seems like you'd need a file cabinet to hold all the revitalization plans proposed for downtown Colorado
Springs over the past 40 years. Read More
Developers pitch affordable lodge for Boomerang
(Aspen Daily, 9/16/13)
Developers hoping to revive the Boomerang lodging project in Aspen say their latest proposal is for a hotel
targeted at economically minded visitors — a rarity for new construction in town. Read More